Well-known scientists visit Chicago Dec. 2012 to discuss the Maya

Submitted by BJ Sadtler on Fri, 11/16/2012 - 16:48

A very robust series of lectures in Chicago from some of the most noteworthy Maya scientists:

November 11, 3:00 PM Chicago Humanities Festival Lecture "Lessons From the Ancient Maya" University of Illinois archeologist Lisa Lucero has been digging up the secrets of the ancient Maya for more than 20 years. Her most far-reaching discovery, though, is a recent one and carries implications for our own era. At the height of Maya Classic culture, around the year 800, several multiyear droughts may have hastened the end of the civilization's ruling kings. Lucero's research centers on the resilience and water management practices of the commoners, helping us understand the importance of rituals, strategy, and conservation to their ingenuity and perseverance. Hear her talk about the ideas Maya history may offer for present-day sustainability. Lisa J. Lucero is a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She focuses on the impact of climate change on ancient societies, Classic Maya politics, ritual and water management, and sustainability in the tropics. The program is presented in partnership with the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. General Admission: $5.00 Teachers and Students: FREEFirst United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple 77 West Washington Street Chicago, Illinoishttp://www.chicagohumanities.org/Genres/Science-And-Technology/2012f-Lisa-Lucero-Sustainability-Lessons-Maia.aspx

November 15th, 7:30 PM South Suburban Archaeological Society Lecture "Maya 2012: The Maya and the End of the Maya Calendar" Joel Palka, PhD, University of IllinoisMarie Irwin Center 18120 Highland Avenue Homewood, Illinoishttp://www.arkyfacts.org/current_meetings.htm

December 1, 10:45 AM Art Institute of Chicago Lecture "The Order of Days: The Maya World and the Truth about 2012" David Stuart, the David and Linda Schele Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin and the foremost expert on Maya hieroglyphs, explores the Maya's prediction of "the end of the world in 2012" and discuss his most recent book on that subject, The Order of Days: The Maya World and the Truth about 2012.Fullerton Hall 111 S. Michigan Ave. Art Institute of Chicagohttp://www.artic.edu/event/lecture-order-days-maya-2012-phenomenon

December 3, 7:00 PM National Geographic Society Lecture "In Search of the Ancient Maya" William Saturno Single-event tickets start at $26 (members) and $29 (general public). "There the paintings remained, hidden in the Guatemalan jungle, for more than 2,000 years before those divine faces again met human eyes. I was the fortunate one to uncover the mural..." - William Saturno Since the 1840s, when explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood first revealed to the outside world the wealth of Maya ruins to be found in the jungles of Central America, we have been wrestling with the same questions: Who built these cities? Who ruled over them? How did they fall into ruin? Recently, these questions have taken on added urgency in the public mind with the popularizing of a "Maya prophecy" that the world will end in 2012. For more than a decade, archaeologist William Saturno has searched for clues to the mysteries of the Classic Maya, carrying out excavations in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. During this time he has made some of the most important Maya discoveries to date, including the spectacular murals of San Bartolo, and-in the sprawling complex of Xultun-a house whose walls are covered with glyphs that appear to represent calculations of the various cycles of the Maya calendar. These calculations show that, contrary to popular thought, the Maya believed the world would continue well past 2012. A report on this illuminating new discovery appeared in the June 2012 issue of National Geographic. Join Saturno for a lively overview of archaeology's two-century-long quest for answers about this enigmatic Mesoamerican people, illustrated with colorful imagery and irresistible tales of royal intrigue, backstabbing, and war. The sparks will fly as William Saturno brings to life the events that determined the fate of kingdoms, and how they affect us today.Goodman Theater 170 N. Dearborn St. Chicago, Illinoishttp://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/speakers/2012/12/03/ancient-maya-chi/